Retired M.D. and soon-to-be master gardeners add a bit of green to after-school program

Jim Commentucci / The Post-StandardJoel Potash, at right on floor, and seated in chairs from left, volunteers Gail Baker and Kuni Riccardi, teaching assistant Sharon Perry and volunteer Brenda Bigelow, are with second graders at Edward Smith Elementary School in the Westcott neighborhood. .

I walked into the classroom in the basement of Edward Smith Elementary School, in the Westcott neighborhood, one afternoon last week and there was my friend Joel Potash, M.D., sitting on the floor with a bunch of second-graders talking about worms.

Joel’s retired from many of his pursuits in our town. He has found a way to enrich his retirement.

He’s there with three other Syracusans – Gail Baker, Kuni Riccardi and Brenda Bigelow. They’re all volunteer teachers in the city’s Say Yes to Education after-school educational program, as part of a master gardeners program of Onondaga County/Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The candidates are asked to do around 50 hours of community service a year. Besides the eight boys in the room, we’re joined by Sharon Perry, a teaching assistant employed by the school district to shadow one of the youngsters.

Jenifer Breyer, who is retired from Syracuse University and Syracuse Stage, is the Say Yes program manager for Ed Smith. She tells me some 120 pupils at the school are involved in the after-school program. The community board organizational sponsor is Westcott Community Center. Since the school is inclusive, some of the youngsters in this group are main-streamed, special needs pupils.

Today, the group talks about worms, compost, watersheds and Mother’s Day. There’s energy to spare. The kids meet twice a week and start off in the cafeteria with a snack and time to do homework, if they have any.

Joel tells me past weeks they talked about trees. They planted two white pines in the Ed Smith schoolyard. The kids need to nurture their trees and bring their parents to see them. They read stories about trees.

Another time they took plant cuttings, planted them and took them home.

Today, they’ll glue marigold seeds to a paper strip, make a card for their Moms and stuff the package into an envelop as a gift, even though one child declares he doesn’t have a mother; we guess he may be fibbing.

The end game here is to plant the strip and watch it grow.

They’ve also made bird feeders out of milk cartons, started sprouts of corn and beans in plastic bags; and made bins for red wigglers worms.

Obviously, these topics jibe with the gardeners interests. The masters’ main role, I’m told, is in interesting and educating the public in gardening, water conservation, care of trees, identification of plant and garden pests and controls, as well as composting.

The gardeners create lesson plans and assign roles to each other. Last year, according to Joel, they planted the Butterfly Gardens on Onondaga Parkway and helped in the community garden at St. Lucy’s Church and recently started seeds in the city greenhouse for a community garden. The gardeners give lectures to garden clubs, man a hot line once a week and have a table at the Downtown Farmers Market, at the State Fair and at the recent garden show at Onondaga Community College’s SRC arena.

Joel says he connected to this interesting volunteer work after meeting with Jenifer Breyer last year. She explained she had a new job developing after-school educational and enrichment programs at Smith School, as part of the Say Yes to Education project. He decided it was a good fit for his Master Gardeners commitment to community service.

This is Smith’s first year with after-school programs, according to Jenifer. This year, kindergarten through the third grade participated. Next year, fourth, fifth and sixth graders will be included.

It’s challenging work for the gardeners, who aren’t schooled in teaching elementary youngsters. Kuni Riccardi pointed out the pupils come to them “with a lot of energy they need to get rid of.” The gardeners try to hold the classes outside, whenever possible.

I’ve known Joel Potash for years. He was my doctor, at one time. He practiced as a family doctor in Cazenovia about 10 years. Then he was in the Department of Family Medicine at Upstate Medical University around 18 years and part and full-time medical director at Hospice, until 2001.

He’s an ethic consultant and a part-time physician at the Onondaga Nation Health Center.

Yes, Joel knows he has put in a spirited afternoon. As the class wound down last week, he said to me, “I’m going home and have a scotch .”

Dick Case writes Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 470-2254, or by e-mail, dcase@syracuse.com.